


(Let’s join a street gang! Is NASA recruiting?)

by softly (alexenglish)



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Childhood Friends, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Nonbinary Character, Other, Summer, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexenglish/pseuds/softly
Summary: This town isn’t big enough for the both of us.  Let’s run away together!





	(Let’s join a street gang! Is NASA recruiting?)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dinosaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaur/gifts).



> [a softer world project](http://queerlyalex.tumblr.com/asofterworld)

 

There’s cold seeping into Niall’s shirt. Cold and wet, and the sky above is dark dark dark blue, pinpricks of light so far away Niall almost wants to sob over it. How far away they are, the impossibility of reaching them, of touching them. 

That’s how Niall knows for a solid fact that xe’s drunk. Crying about stars and not being able to touch them even though they’re giant burning masses of hydrogen and helium that would eviscerate Niall if xe got close enough. 

“Nialler’s down!” 

It’s Harry, face hovering over Niall’s, all concerned, blocking out all of the stars. There’s a few very pretty flowers woven into his curls. One drops on Niall’s head. Niall blinks away the wetness still filmed over xir eyes. 

“Are you crying?” Harry asks, feet on either side of Niall’s legs so he can pull Niall up, big hands warm through Niall’s soaked shirt when xe stands. Niall wobbles, pouts at the way the fabric clings to to xir skin, cold and uncomfortable. 

“Who turned the sprinklers on?” Niall asks, instead of answering. 

“Think they’re on a timer, babes,” Zayn says, swooping up behind Niall. Their hand skates over Niall’s lower back, steadies xir. Xe sighs, leans into them as they wrap their arm around Niall’s waist. Harry lets xir go, smirking in that knowing way of his. 

“Shut your face,” Niall says, pawing at Harry’s cheek. Harry laughs, loud and scratchy, swatting at xir hands and side-stepping into Louis. Louis scowls, bumping their sides together, knocking Harry into Liam, who’s sturdy enough to keep them both from toppling. 

“Can we please get to Zayn’s house before I die in this binder?” he asks, glaring at Harry, then Niall, then Liam. Not Zayn. Louis never glares at Zayn. “I was supposed to be out of it like, two hours ago. I can feel my lungs shrinking.”

“Don’t be a drama… llama.” Liam rolls his eyes, arm around Harry’s shoulders. There’s a flower behind his ear. Evidence that he’s the one who put them in Harry’s hair. Harry’s… hair, heh. “It doesn’t actually squeeze you to death. It’s not a boa constrictor, it’s a compression tank.”

“ _It’s a compression tank_ ,” Louis mimics in a baby voice, far too loud for them time of night it  _surely_  is. “Don’t even use three-syllable words when sober, but get some tequila in ‘im and ohhhh laddies!”

“Stop talking shit,” Zayn says, reaching out with their freakishly long arms to swat at Louis’ head.

“Just don’t want me ribs warped, thanks,” Louis sniffs, sticking his tongue out.

Zayn returns the gesture, settling their hand back on Niall’s waist. Their palms is warm, fingers brushing the waistband of Niall’s jeans, thumb tucked in the curved space between xir ribs and xir hip. 

If xe was a chocolate M&M, xe would be fully melted. 

“Why’d you lie down?” Zayn asks, voice going low as the others wander ahead. Louis seems to have forgotten Harry’s transgressions, joining the daisy chain with his arm overlapping Liam’s, fingers tangling in the curls over Harry’s shoulder. 

“No idea,” Niall giggles. “Wanted to talk to… the stars.” Xe gestures upwards vaguely. 

Zayn stops the two of them where they are, head tilting up to see. There’s a street lamp a half dozen feet away, orange light bright enough to outline Zayn’s face, illuminate the soft planes of their cheeks, catching in their mile-long lashes like the sweeping edge of a solar flare. 

Zayn hums. “They’re good stars.”

“They are,” Niall agrees, not bothering to look at the sky. The line of Zayn’s neck is long and beautiful, and Niall wants to press xir lips to the skin just below Zayn’s ear. Xe aches, and aches, and aches.

“We should –” Zayn plops down and tugs at Niall’s arm so xe does too. There’s still water on the grass, but Zayn’s lying down so Niall lies down next to them, wiggling close so xe can leech their body heat. The wet is cold, Zayn is warm. Simple maths.

Zayn makes it easy to be a leech, they hook their arm around Niall and pulls xir in so xir head is cushioned on their shoulder. So they’re both looking up at the navy blue night sky and the winking stars. 

“They’re so far away,” Niall says quietly, not knowing why this is such a crushing revelation tonight. Why it makes xir feel so impossibly sad. 

“But we can see them,” Zayn says, letting Niall tangle their fingers together when xe reaches up. If xe holds on tighter than normal, Zayn doesn’t comment on it. “They’re there.”

“Some of them aren’t,” Niall says. “Some of them aren’t there anymore, we’re seeing their ghosts.” Xir heart flutters. “Just the image they left behind before they –” Niall punches upwards and uncurls xir fist, making a garbled exploding noise. 

Xe has no idea why this matters. 

“Quite an impression,” Zayn says, rolling on top of Niall. Their legs slot together, hipbones kissing. They frame Niall with their body, box Niall in. Niall feels flush all over, buzzing. 

“S’like, their last one,” Niall says, trying not to look at Zayn’s mouth, dark from the from the  _velvet nebula_ lipstick they were wearing earlier. Worn off by now, leaving a purple stain. 

If Zayn were a lipstick, they’d be  _velvet nebula._  Niall’s the plain, white coffee mug with the sticky remnants of their kiss on the rim. 

“Last impression,” Niall clarifies. Last anything. Last hurrah. 

Last summer together before they go off to separate ends of the universe for uni and only exist for each other through their phones and computer screens, and – Niall’s heart hurts so xe leans up and kisses Zayn. 

“Yeah,” Zayn agrees, kissing Niall back roughly, letting Niall pull them down, down until their chests brush, hard enough that Niall’s underwire digs into xir sternum, reminding xir of all the layers between xir and Zayn, and even if they were naked, they still wouldn’t be close enough – they can never be close enough since atoms don’t touch, and Niall thinks that’s a tragedy, really.

Niall wants to ask Zayn to stay. Wants to ask Zayn to  _leave_. Wants to ask if Zayn would leave with  _xir_. Abandon all their plans for the future and uni, and go away with Niall. They could set their sights on Polaris and follow her to the ends of the Earth. 

Niall would do away with everything if Zayn would just keep Niall by their side. The world’s too large and xir always feels too small, and Niall is terrified that distance will expand like dark matter and push them apart, and push them apart, and –

Niall clings to the front of Zayn’s leather jacket and shakes, and blames it on the cold and not on the way xe’s freaking out about the future of them – and apparently the  _entire_  universe, like they’re destined for black hole consumption and xe’s the only one who can see it right now. 

“I think they’re having a moment,” Liam says, from somewhere above and off to the side. Niall and Zayn untangle slowly. 

Niall rubs xir face on Zayn’s chest like a cat, because xe can. “Might be,” Niall says, voice thick and sticky in xir throat. Xir heart is racing, xe keeps Zayn close. 

“That’s _adorable_ ,” Louis says loudly, before climbing on stop of Zayn. Niall feels Zayn stiffen, trying to hold him up, but Harry joins a moment later with more force, tipping them over. 

Zayn collapses on top of Niall with a loud  _oof!_  as Louis screeches with laughter and Liam flops on top, squishing Niall even more. Xe’s lost feeling in xir legs, Louis and Harry shoving at each other from somewhere on top of, or around, them. Liam seems content to be on top, which is usually the case. 

Zayn’s breath is soft and warm as they huff a laugh into Niall’s neck, followed quickly by their lips, softer and warmer, making a shiver run down Niall’s spine. It makes xir feel good, more like a super nova than the endless, dark _nothing_  of insignificance. 

“We’ll be okay,” Zayn says, meant for Niall, but xe’s sure they all hear it, the way the rest of them go still, one held breath between the five of them. Zayn taps Niall’s chest, right above xir heart. Their nails are dark and glittered, winking like the sky above them. “We’re all revolving around the same star, aren’t we?” 

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://queerlyalex.tumblr.com/post/162890970892/lets-join-a-street-gang-is-nasa-recruiting)


End file.
